Farooq Abdullah, in detention for 7 months, ordered to be released by govt

Farooq Abdullah, along with son Omar and former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, were detained on August 4, 2019, a day before the Centre stripped Jammu and Kashmir of special status and bifurcated it into two union territories.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday revoked the detention of former chief minister and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah. He has been under detention for seven months (since August last year), when the central government abrogated Article 370 and ended the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir.

“In exercise of powers conferred under Section 19(1) of the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (PSA), 1978, the government hereby revokes the detention order bearing No. DMS/PSA/120/2019 issued by District Magistrate, Srinagar,” the administration said in its order issued on Friday.

Farooq Abdullah, along with son Omar and former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, were detained on August 5, 2019, a day before the Centre stripped Jammu and Kashmir of special status and bifurcated it into two union territories.

Earlier this week, a group of Opposition leaders had sought the immediate release of the three former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir. “It is our bounden duty to demand the immediate release of the three former Chief Ministers of J&K and all the other political detainees,” read the statement from the Opposition leaders, which was posted by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on his Twitter handle on Monday.

The leaders accused the Modi government of “muzzling” democratic dissent by “coercive administrative action”.

The National Conference had recently said that the continuous detention of Farooq Abdullah was a clear signal of the Centre’s contempt for Kashmiri representation. “The central government has created a dangerous vacuum reversing all the gains of the past two decades by denigrating mainstream politics in Kashmir,” senior NC leader and Member of Parliament from north Kashmir Mohammad Akbar Lone had said last week.

Lone said it was “disrespectful” to have a sitting MP, whom former Prime Minister late A B Vajpayee had referred to as “third party to Kashmir”, in confinement.

Farooq Abdullah has been kept at his Gupkar Road residence in Srinagar